Toad’s Bounty

Toad's Bounty: Slot Overview

As well as its fair share of band waggoners, the online slot industry is also shot through with wild mavericks who have the bold temerity to tear up the rule book and design something no one has seen before. AvatarUX is a studio that, on the one hand, clings tightly to its PopWins mechanic as if it's oxygen while also getting all experimental at other times. In today's review, Toad's Bounty, the studio has gone way off-piste, ending up in a place where few to none have been before.

Well, the mechanics are unique, the game world not so much, as willing participants find themselves waterside, outdoors in nature. This might not be the most populous slot location, but it isn't hard to gamble alongside frogs if the mood strikes - Push Gaming's Fire Hopper and Pragmatic Plays' Frogs & Bugs are two such examples. However, Toad's Bounty is completely different from those slots, as will probably become apparent from the moment it loads.

Statistically, Toad's Bounty produces an RTP of 94% and is low, medium, or highly volatile, depending on player choice. Bet range is vast, from a lowest possible stake of 10 c to a highest of $/€300 per game round. The game does not have regular symbols, no ways, paylines, or a scatter wins mechanic; heck, it doesn't even have reels. So, what does it have?

Toad's Bounty: Slot Features

In Toad's Bounty, a frog attempts to catch flying coins, and if successful, they award a bet multiplier. Catching coins fills a progress bar and unlocks bonus rounds. The first thing to do is choose the low volatile Green frog, the medium volatile Yellow frog, or the high volatile Red frog. Then, hitting spin causes the frog to dart its tongue out in an attempt to catch a flying coin.

Coins and Multipliers

Bronze coins are worth 0.1x to 1x, Silver coins 0.2x to 5x, Gold coins 0.4x to 50x, Emerald 0.8x to 500x, while Rubies are worth 1x to 5,000x the bet. A random multiplier within these ranges is awarded when coins are caught.

Free Tries Mechanic

After catching the first flying coin, each subsequent attempt is free until the frog misses, generating a cascading win effect. Each successful catch reveals a winning multiplier, and a flying coin appears. Each new flying coin caught increases in value.

Progress Bar and Bonus Game

With each successful catch during Free Tries, the progress bar fills up. Reaching 10 or more points on the progress bar triggers a bonus game. Bronze, Silver, Gold and Emerald fill the bar by +1 point, while Ruby adds +2 points. Getting 10-13, 14-16, 17-18, or 19+ points awards the bonus game with a starting multiplier of x1, x2, x5, or x10, respectively. Bonus games award free spins where the multiplier can grow from its initial value depending on how full the progress bar gets.

Frog's Bro Feature

At random, an extra frog may appear on the progress bar after reaching a certain level. The extra frog helps catch additional flying coins. Up to 2 extra frogs may appear, and they leave after an unsuccessful catch.

Toad's Bounty: Slot Verdict

While it's possible that AvatarUX is trying to break into new markets, and the PG Soft type look (a studio which is a big performer in Asia) might be a telltale sign of this, Toad's Bounty goes to show that the studio is certainly able to think out of the box and is willing to release its kung fu grip on PopWins to try something new. The studio has already demonstrated this willingness in the past, but Toad's Bounty takes the idea of experimentation to the next level. Is it a slot? Is it a crash-style game; what exactly is it? On top of the existential questions, there is a more basic one: is Toad's Bounty any good? Tough to say. For players looking for a regular slot that spins reels and lands winning combinations, then Toad's Bounty probably will not scratch that itch. Then again, who knows? Adventurous gamblers might find Toad's Bounty to be the best game they never knew they wanted?

Or not, it is pretty weird, after all, and sits quite comfortably on the highly experimental shelf. So much so that it is worth taking the game for a demo, at least to make your mind up. The repeat win flow might be fun, snowballing into bigger prizes and greater multipliers. Free spins up the possible values on the progress bar further, and a 10,000x max win coupled with up to 5,000x on the Ruby are fairly lofty targets to aim for. Whatever the final judgement, kudos to AvatarUX for leaping about as far out of its PopWins comfort zone as it is possible to get. Where they've landed is, uh, weird, but it might be just the right sort of freaky-deeky for some tastes.